CE Pro February 2023 - 24

CE PROFILE | Hi Solutions
National
Aspirations
Hi Solutions
is acquiring
integrators
to build a
coast-to-coast
network of
integrators using
a proprietary
AI-driven
solution with
solid RMR base.
By Jason Knott
SAY " HELLO " TO HI SOLUTIONS, a
newly formed, publicly owned
Quick Stats
Company: Hi Solutions
Locations: Philadelphia,
Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale
Website: hi.solutions
Years in Business: 2
company that is aiming to make a significant
impact on the smart home industry with a
national rollup strategy. The company's
compelling plan is to create a nationwide
network of custom integrators serving a
wider market demographic with a flexible,
highly personalized and experience-driven
offering. To achieve that goal, Hi Solutions
seeks to acquire integrators " in every city
that has an NFL team " within the next 2
years and set those integration firms up to
thrive with a flexible packaged smart home
solution combined with a solid recurring
monthly revenue (RMR) income stream.
Indeed, Hi Solutions' business model
is capitalizing on several existing market
trends. First, the company's flexible solution
addresses the needs of the very high end
of the market through the under-served
mid-market clientele. As industry-watchers
know, custom installers have continued to
gravitate their businesses almost exclusively
to serving the luxury side of the market for
the past several years. Hi Solutions believes
that a professionally installed smart home
system has become more affordable for a
wider range of U.S. households who are
not DIYers. Hi Solutions aims to target this
wider addressable market gap by working
closely with homebuilders, designers,
architects as well as marketing directly to
consumers to create greater awareness of
what is available to them.
Second, there is still no national smart
home player with an established brand name
serving this wider market. Yes, Bravas has
created a solid cadre of high-end custom
24 | CE Pro February 2023
integrators in 14 cities across the U.S.
focused on high-end installations. On the
volume side of the business, both ADT and
Vivint Smart Home have expanded beyond
their security-based roots to offer somewhat
substantial home automation solutions with
low-entry-level price points built around solid
RMR. So, the lack of a go-to mid-market
national brand remains an opportunity for a
company like Hi Solutions.
Third, while the percentage of revenue
coming from service agreements and monitoring
contracts is eking upwards for the
typical custom installation company, it still
pales in comparison to RMR-based businesses
like the security industry. Hi Solutions
aims to find that right balance between upfront
money from customers for installations
and ongoing service fees using a service app
called " Higgins " . The resulting business model
creates an RMR service component that
can feed cashflow to integrators.
It is against this industry landscape that
Hi Solutions is approaching the market.
So, what makes Hi Solutions different from
other companies that have aspired to have
a coast-to-coast presence? The company
has built a flexible solution trademarked as
the Autonomous Home that supports its
AI-powered customer monitoring, care, and
support engine. The system is not just targeted
at the convenience lifestyle, but also
Work From Home. Hi Solutions cleverly calls
its offering an enhanced way to reduce stress
and improve productivity for the " Everything
From Home " (EFH) lifestyle.
So where is the funding coming from for
the company's growth strategy? Hi Solutions,
which uses the tagline " the Smarter
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CE Pro February 2023

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